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Thursday, April 23, 2015

A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott narrated by Cassandra Campbell

When Julie Crawford
leaves Fort Wayne, Indiana for Hollywood, she never imagines she'll cross paths
with Carole Lombard, the dazzling actress from Julie's provincial Midwestern
hometown. Although the young woman has dreams of becoming a screenwriter, the
only job Julie's able to find is one in the studio publicity office of the
notoriously demanding producer David O. Selznick —who is busy burning through
directors, writers and money as he begins filming Gone with the Wind.

Although tensions run
high on the set, Julie finds she can step onto the back lot, take in the smell
of smoky gunpowder and the soft rustle of hoop skirts, and feel the magical
world of Gone with the Wind come to life. Julie's access to real-life magic
comes when Carole Lombard hires her as an assistant and invites her into the
glamorous world Carole shares with Clark Gable—who is about to move into movie
history as the dashing Rhett Butler.

Carole Lombard,
happily profane and uninhibited, makes no secret of her relationship with
Gable, which poses something of a problem for the studio as Gable is
technically still married—and the last thing the film needs is more negative
publicity. Julie is there to fend off the overly curious reporters, hoping to
prevent details about the affair from slipping out. But she can barely keep up
with her blonde employer, let alone control what comes out of Carole's mouth,
and--as their friendship grows - soon finds shedoesn't want to. Carole, both wise and funny, becomes Julie's model for
breaking free of the past.

This review is of the
audiobooks

First off I need to tell you I am a huge classic movie fan;
I think movies made before 1950 are the best movies out there. That is why I
requested this book from edelweiss but then I saw that Cassandra Campbell
narrates it so I waited for the audiobook.

I loved all the insider info into the fights, casting,
script writing, censors and producers that went on during the filming of this
movie. I am so glad Louis B. Mayer didn’t get his way and that David O.
Selsnick filmed the ending he wanted because it was the best ending possible!

Julie Crawford a young writer from Indiana comes to
Hollywood to write for the movies, on her first job she doesn’t get a message
to one of the directors of Gone With the Wind fast enough and is fired on the
spot, however she has just met a beautiful woman who says she will help her
out. When someone asks if she knows who the lady is she admits she looks
familiar but can’t place her; the woman turns out to be Carole Lombard soon to
be wife of Clark Gable who stars and Rhett Butler in the film. What I found a
little weird about these scenes was if you are going to Hollywood to write for
the movies wouldn’t you at least know a little about the stars you hope to
write for? But she and Carole become very good friends and I loved all the
scenes of them together Carole seemed like a very down-to-earth person. Also on
that day she meets Hank Weinstein and they start a relationship even though he
is Jewish. This is 1938-39 so Hitler is starting his holocaust of the Jewish
people including Hanks grandparents so he is having a tough time of it.

I was impressed with Gable’s civil rights ideals (I really
hope they were true) when he sees that the bathrooms and other places are
segregated he has a fit and fights for their rights of non-segregation.
Including almost not going to the premier because Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly
McQueen would have to use a back door and sit in the colored section, even
though it was Hattie who convinced Gable to go even when she boycotted the
event.

This was a fun book it was such an insider’s look into old
Hollywood and especially Carole Lombard & Clark Gable’s relationship. I did
think Julie could be quite naïve but it was the 30’s and she grew up in Indiana
so …

Cassandra Campbell’s narration was as always fabulous, I
like how she made Clark gruff but didn’t try to imitate his voice, every
character had their own cadence and tone and you were never left guessing as to
who was talking.

If you are a fan of old Hollywood, and /or Gone With the
Wind I think you will enjoy this book very much. I have enjoyed all of Alcott’s
books so if you haven’t read anything by her before give her a try you’ll be
glad you did!